Sunday, November 23, 2008

Acorn Bags - Handlebar Bag Review

Ron of Acorn Bags was kind enough to do a short interview a few posts back.



I have owned two of his bags for a few months now and they have accompanied Laura and I on many short tours. From what we've seen, we can highly recommend them!


The handlebar bag is a well made piece of bicycle luggage. The material is a soft cotton duck. It has a bit more give than a Carradice but offers more body than a Minniehaha. The material itself is not waterproof. Don't expect to throw it in a river and keep your items dry. However, given the nature of the material it will keep things relatively dry even in an outright downpour. It would be a good idea to put things that MUST stay perfectly dry in a plastic baggie of some sort.




The handlebar bag is a good size. It should fit several maps, your wallet, some food bars, a small camera, tools, and tube with room to spare. The space is slightly compartmentalized with two small pouches facing the rider that can be opened easily while riding, two zippers that give you access to the main storage and another smaller pocket in the front. It has just enough nooks and crannies to keep organized without micromanaging where you place things.




The bag attaches to your bike via thick leather straps and a wooden dowel. These straps are great and you can tell they will last for many years to come. OR (I haven't tried this personally), you could drill and mount a VO decaleur and use it as a quick release.

When I'm not carrying a DSLR up front, this is bag I'd grab. It will fit both my Flip video camera and Canon G10 in the main compartment with plenty of room to spare. If you don't need the extra volume or lack a mini front rack to support something like the Ostrich bag, this handlebar bag is the one to get. Classy, refined and very useful.

5 comments:

twodeadpoets said...

Acorn products are awesome! I love my bag!

Wish I could order other bags in the same olive green colour as my two strap roll bag which matches my bike!

GhostRider said...

I can't really tell from the photo...there appears to be a mini front rack installed, but also there's some tube-shaped chromey bits hovering around that impressive stack of stem spacers. Which is actually doing the supporting of the bag? Also, is some support needed, or do the straps keep the bag secure enough on their own?

RussRoca said...

Ghost...

There is a mini-front rack installed...that usually holds up my Ostrich bag when I have it on there...the chromoly tube thing on the spacers is a VO decaleur that attaches to the Ostrich bag...in the pictures (hard to tell) it's not holding the bag up ....

all the support is coming from the leather straps...in the last photo, you can see a cord that goes from the bag to the drops, that stabilizes the bag from swaying with a big load...

Miguel said...

Russ, got a question not about the bag the remark you made about carrying a G10 and Flip. The G10 does top notch video, why carry the Flip? I'm a G9 owner.

Unknown said...

Awesome site!

Just a quick question. What handlebar bag do you use to carry your DSLR? Do you use any padding?

Thanks,
Ken